Building on the success of the hit movie from seven years ago, “300: Rise of an Empire” offers more of the violent bloody battle scenes that made the original infamous, providing a refreshing change in genre to the dystopian book adaptations that flood theaters today. The film, directed by Noam Murro, tells the story of Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) waging a bloody sea battle against the Persian general Artemisia (Eva Green). The film brings relief to adult viewers who have grown tired of Disney animations and teen novel adaptations.

The R-rated film promised action and classic war movie themes before viewing– with a soundtrack written by Ozzy Osbourne, performed by Black Sabbath, and only a 104 minute viewing time, the movie boasted long monologues which were followed by even longer battle scenes. The film came into theaters as a rare R-rated film, as many current directors opt to change to PG-13 in order to attract a growing teenage audience.
The film featured hundreds of Greek warriors with six-packs, eye candy for girlfriends dragged to the movie by their boyfriends. The plot of the movie mirrored the original as expected, but the beginning backtracks to the war that the current movie takes place in, and explains some questions that the film alone would not have answered. While many battle scenes provided blood splattering, old-school entertainment, the remainder of the movie was stuffed with monologue after monologue from the main characters, most of which were used to motivate their troops before another battle.

Typical for a R-rated action movie, little character development and depth took place, as the main characters drove most of the dialogue and fought with each other the entire time. The limited number of sub-plots included a classic father-son bond, where the son was forbidden to go to war, but shows up anyway. Besides a few cliche sub-plots, the movie’s plot line moved in a very linear direction.

The main draw of the movie involved the many bloody battle scenes that every viewer expected. The special effects dulled these scenes, and the blood resembled water, as it shot out of bodies randomly. A scene involving Greek fire depicted a bright orange slush that clogged the water and burned like gas. Darkness plagued the movie, as every scene in the movie was dimly lit. Much like “The Walking Dead”, the darkness makes the sets harder to see, and events critical to the plot were shrouded by it.

This movie provided a mediocre comeback for this series, with less-than-stellar special effects and a very shallow plot of theme line. The movie still provides relief from “The Hunger Games”, although battle scenes and monologues are the only half-credible draws of the movie. If “Divergent” sells out, pick up a ticket for “300: Rise of an Empire”and watch men kill each other.